Development and Performance of Pyrolyzer for Production of Biochar and Wood Vinegar from Domestic Agriculture Farm Waste

Abstract

This invention describes the development and performance of a pyrolyzer to produce biochar and wood vinegar from domestic agriculture farm waste. Two pyrolyzers (fix and portable) were designed and developed in MARDI. The system consists of a kiln with ignition area and feeder, cyclone area connected with a 7.5 cm diameter pipe, two vinegar collectors and temperature data logger. The system is capable of producing two main products, biochar and wood vinegar. The main heating materials are coconut shells and other pruning wastes such as mango and carambola, burned in the kiln under limited oxygen condition. Wood vinegar is a by-product of charcoal production. The design concept is to force the gases produced into the liquid through condensation. Theoretically, the smoke from the burned pruning wastes would rise. The gases will then enter the 7.5 cm pipe. At this stage, the pipe forces the gases to hit each other and become liquid. There is a cyclonic system to optimise the conversion of gas into a liquid. At the bottom of the system, there is one connected pipe to collect wood vinegar. An additional line is connected to the cyclone system to force the remaining gases through a smaller tube to become liquid. Overall, there are two vessels to collect the vinegar. After the functional test run, the results showed that the prototype gave satisfactory results with biochar products with 60 to 70% carbon with additional wood vinegar products suitable for eventual use. The study recommends pyrolization of waste as one of the sustainable approaches to manage abundant agricultural residues.